It seems another Nigerian eCommerce platform has gone under. This time, it’s DealDey, Nigeria’s premier platform known to serve users exclusive deals every single day. The company’s overview on its website puts its activities aptly:

Launched in March 2011, DealDey features daily deals on the best things to do, see, eat, and buy in Nigeria. DealDey is an easy and fun way to get fantastic deals on great experiences. At DealDey we support local businesses and in return, they support consumers with good savings! We want to create a “Win-Win” scenario each and every day for local merchants who want to attract new customers, and consumers who want to save money and take advantage of great services and activities in their own city.

From all indications, DealDey apparently offers relief with its amazing deals for the average Nigerian. So much that when things began levelling down on the platform, loyal patronizers started becoming unsettling:

We began digging. Thanks to the fact that the internet never forgets, here’s what we found:

DealDey Today…

What? The ever-filled DealDey website is so empty and ‘silent’. No deals, no pictures, nothing… Just this blank space. Why on earth wouldn’t there be deals on DealDey without prior notice or any information to its loyal clients whatsoever? Or did we visit the wrong site?

“Slowly and steadily, the race was lost…” appears to be the case for a once-promising eCommerce platform which took a different approach to offers for Nigerians. While we haven’t gotten a response on the current situation from the Management of DealDey, sources that have had dealings with the company informed us that the platform has deliberately taken a silent approach to its demise.

All of these happened towards the end of 2018. If for anything at all, screenshots from Wayback Machine proves this fact. Let’s take a break from DealDey and examine the very space it plays in.

Nigeria and eCommerce

Truth be told, it seems the Nigerian business environment hasn’t been very friendly to eCommerce businesses in recent times.

In 2017, Efritin an eCommerce firm and subsidiary of Saltside Technologies, shut down its operations citing high cost of data, harsh economic conditions (possibly due to the recession at the time) and increasing operations costs in the country as its reasons for surrender

Konga another leading eCommerce giant had to save itself through a merger with an offline retailer “Yudala” in a $34million acquisition deal from Naspers and ASB Kinnevik by Zinox Technologies one of the strategic tech companies in the nation. This is an acquisition that obviously took a lot from its early investors.

OLX, a subsidiary of Naspers also wound down in early 2018, stating on its part that it had to make a difficult but important decision by closing its operations in Nigeria, to consolidate its operations across the globe.

And now, it’s DealDey’s turn to follow the drill. Apparently, some DealDey users could sense the platform’s unusual ‘quietness’:

But here’s the most baffling thing. Jumia, another giant eCommerce platform which launched in 2012 appears to be barely shaken by the turbulence affecting similar platforms in the Nigerian economy. Is there a particular code Jumia has been able to break to retain its rudder amidst the storm? Jason Njoku, Founder of IrokoTV may have a clue.

In all, having four significant eCommerce platforms go under in less than 3 years is a big cause to worry.

None the less, the users of ‘Deal no Dey’ will so much miss the platform. Especially Soph.